One of the most intriguing storylines of the 2021 Copa Paulino Alcantara has been the non-participation of defending Philippines Football League champions United City.
Rumors were rife within the local football community as to why United City decided to skip this year’s only domestic competition.
In a club statement released on Monday, United City cleared the air.
“When United City FC took over the licenses from Ceres-Negros to rescue the club in July 2020, the parties signed an agreement outlining particular obligations to be fulfilled by Ceres-Negros,” opened the press release.
“However, some have unfortunately not been met by the former club, as of this writing.”
Ceres-Negros, the then three-time PFL champions and 2017 AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal champions, was purchased Eric M. Gottschalk’s Dubai-based MMC Sportz Asia from Bacolod sports patron Leo Rey Yanson.
The team was then renamed ‘United City’ and went on to win the 2020 PFL championship. It also competed in the 2021 AFC Champions League as one of Philippine football’s first-ever representatives in the biggest club tournament in the continent.
“As the successor of Ceres Negros, United City FC is now being dragged into legal disputes brought forward against Ceres-Negros, for which United City FC is neither responsible nor have caused the circumstances, as all this arose before the take-over of the club, which is undisputed,” added the statement.
“Since the legal actions were taken against the former Club Ceres-Negros have been registered with FIFA, it has now affected the United City FC Club license application for AFC competitions, which as of writing, is ‘provisional.’”
United City is currently having its lawyers fix this legal issue. It is also working with the Philippine Football Federation to have this situation solved alongside the other pertinent stakeholders who are in correspondence.
“In the meantime, United City FC decided to pull out of the Copa Paulino Alcantara competition, as our participation would affect the outcome for the 2022 AFC Cup nominations of the other teams involved, among other factors, which had to be considered,” it continued.
“With sadness, we took this step, especially since our players and staff have been preparing for our return to local competitions, following our participation in the AFC Champions League last July.”
The club then claims that it is being fully backed by the PFF, PFL, and other local professional clubs since it has communicated its predicament and whatever it is doing to fix it to them. It deems this situation a short-term issue that should not stop it from returning to action in the coming year.
“We apologize to our fans that the ongoing Copa is, unfortunately, being played without us. However, we assure you that UCFC will be stronger and better in 2022 when we aim to defend our PFL title and to go a step further in AFC competitions.”
